Team-mates: Vince Grimes

As featured in our matchday programme, we spoke to former player Vince Grimes to get his views on his former teammates.

A regular in the stands at home games these days, Grimes joined the Iron from Hull City in January 1978 and went onto make 156 appearances in all competitions, scoring 14 goals before his departure in 1982.

LEADER…
I’d say Oatesey for this one – Bob Oates. I did captain the team under Mr Ron Ashman but that changed when John Duncan became the manager. Bob was quiet but everybody respected him. He could get his message through to the other players if he needed to.

BEST MATE…
Mr Eamonn Kavanagh. I had a very good relationship with him and we both played in the centre of midfield with each other. I’ve remained friends with him since we both retired from football. I keep in touch with quite a few of my former teammates to be honest. I speak to Mr Joe Neenan regularly, Mr Paul O’Berg as well. We have an annual golf day for ex-players in September so we all meet up once a year for that and it’s a chance for the team I played in to see each other.

BEST TRAINER...
The best trainer would have to be Paul O’Berg. He had very good stamina for a lad that was small in stature. He seemed to be able to run all day. He was a nippy, inventive player.

UNSUNG HERO…
For me, that has to be somebody like Stuart Pilling. He would always give his best on the field and he did a lot of hard work for the team that the crowd perhaps didn’t recognise but certainly as players we appreciated what he was doing.

MOST SKILFUL…
Probably Steve Cammack. He was a very good goalscorer and was very consistent. The goalscorer in football is vital for the team. The team can create chances but you’ve got to have someone with the ability to stick the ball in the net and at that time we were very fortunate to have someone like Steve and his record showed. 

MOST INTELLIGENT…
It certainly wasn’t Neenan! John Peacock who is now coaching. John was a quiet lad but was very intelligent.

JOKER…
It would have been Mr Botham when he was there – Ian Botham. He would be cutting people’s socks up and putting wintergreen inside people’s boxer shorts and stuff like that. He would always be making life uncomfortable for everyone, even his friends. He was a tremendous lad though and it was an honour to play with him. Everybody knows he’s one of the all-time greats at cricket and for him to come to Scunthorpe and play football was a pleasure for everyone. He’d been training with us and showed that he had talent and ability and he justified his selection in the team.

BEST PLAYER…
I would say Steve Cammack.

WORST TRAINER…
Unfortunately he’s no longer with us, but I’d have to go for a lad called Ron Wigg, who sadly died of a heart attack living in America. I could also pick Jim Lumby. All he wanted to do was score goals, he never wanted to run too far.

QUICKEST…
That would probably be Paul O’Berg over a short distance. Mike Czuczman was very good over a long distance and was very strong on stamina. He would always go to the front when we were training.